The Arts Institute invites you to this event, as part of its Researcher Development Series on
Tuesday 23rd February, 5pm in RLB 309, Plymouth University.
“Reasoning through Art: The Articulation of Embodied Knowledge”
by Professor Henk Borgdorff (Royal Conservatoire / University of the Arts, The Hague)
This seminar starts by asking whether research by artists, so-called artistic research, is equivalent to other forms of academic research. Artists in their research often make use of insights, methods and techniques, which stem from social science, humanities or technological research, but it is not clear what artistic research itself has to offer to academia. Prof Borgdorff will develop a positive understanding of research in and through the arts, touching upon its epistemology and methodology, and addressing the form and relevance of its outcomes. He will point to four related issues that are pertinent to research in and through art: an advanced understanding of discursivity and reasoning; the methodological relevance of material practices and things; innovative ways of publishing art in academia; and advanced forms of peer review. For Prof Borgdorff, it is key to the advancement of the artistic research field that we not only advertise and export our epistemological and methodological distinctiveness, but that we also join forces with others in our attempt to re-think academia.
Henk Borgdorff is a philosopher and music theorist who is a Professor (‘lector’) of Research in the Arts at the Royal Conservatoire / University of the Arts, The Hague (The Netherlands). He was a Professor in Art Theory and Research at the Amsterdam School of the Arts (until 2010), visiting Professor in Aesthetics at the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts at the University of Gothenburg (until 2013), and editor of the Journal for Artistic Research (until 2015). A selection was published in May 2012 as The Conflict of the Faculties: Perspectives on Artistic Research and Academia (Leiden University Press). Borgdorff is president of the Society for Artistic Research. See his profile page on the Research Catalogue: www.researchcatalogue.net
If you would like to attend this talk, please email theartsinstitute@plymouth.ac.uk